The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) entered the Black Sea, July 7, to promote peace and stability in the region. While in the Black Sea, Vella Gulf will conduct a port visit in Bulgaria, then head back out to sea to participate in the Bulgarian-led exercise Breeze;
The U.S. 6th Fleet command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) arrived in Zeebrugge, Belgium, July 3 to participate in the Belgian Navy Days 2014. Belgian Navy Days 2014 is a maritime festival similar to the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Week. During Belgian Navy Days 2014 Mount Whitney will be hostin
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) conducted joint maritime operations with the Turkish navy fast attack craft TCG Dogan (P 340) and TCG Marti (P 341) after departing Kusadasi, Turkey on July 6. Vella Gulf, Dogan and Marti conducted a surface exercise and a flag co
This was once one of Germany’s most famous military decorations – now a prized trophy aboard Portsmouth minehunter HMS Hurworth, 70 years after the ship’s predecessor shot down its holder’s bomber. In 1943, the previous Hurworth – a destroyer – shot down a Luftwaffe Junkers 88 dive-bomber over Sic
HMS Ocean sailed from Plymouth on Saturday (5th July) for the first time since October 2012, after undergoing a major refit in her base-port at Devonport, Plymouth. The £65 million refit has improved her ability to carry out her main role as an amphibious helicopter carrier (landing platform helic
HMS Iron Duke has had her first port visit on her six month operational deployment to the Canary Island port of Santa Cruz in Tenerife. The 4,200 tonne warship went alongside the cruise ship port of Santa Cruz, the Capital of Tenerife for a 4 day visit, prior to embarking on her operations off [&h
U.S. Navy Ships Join Seafair Celebrations Sailors aboard the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2), guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62), and guided-missile destroyer USS Howard (DDG 83) will be in Seattle for Seafair as part of the annual festival’s Fleet Week, marking
Standing NATO Mine Counter-Measures Group TWO (SNMCMG2), one of NATO’s four Standing Maritime Forces, entered the Black Sea on Thursday, 3 July 2014, in a regularly scheduled deployment to enhance NATO’s solidarity and readiness in the region. Led by Captain Giovanni Piegaja (ITA Navy), SNMCMG2 is
History was made today as Her Majesty The Queen officially named the Royal UK Navy’s new aircraft carrier. At 56 metres she is taller than Niagara Falls and, with a flight deck the size of 60 tennis courts, she is the largest ship ever built for the Royal Navy. Today, at HMS Queen Elizabeth’s [&he
Following a challenging week on the Perisher Submarine Command Course, two groups of HMS Lancaster’s personnel visited the surrounding Scottish islands. Lancaster was on hand to do what she does best, hunt and destroy submarines, and in turn the RN’s ‘silent service’ tried to sink their ‘target,’
The frigate ‘Cristóbal Colón’ (F-105) has participated in a ballistic missile defense (BMD) exercise in the Mediterranean Sea on June 26th and 27th, providing air protection to the US Navy cruiser ‘USS Vella Gulf’ (CG-72) whose combat system is capable of intercepting ballistic targets outside the e
Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond has completed her role escorting ships carrying Syria’s chemical weapons stock for disposal. HMS Diamond joined the Danish, Norwegian and British task group in February to provide maritime force protection to merchant vessels transporting chemical agents from Syria. T
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the United Kingdom for Tomahawk Block IV Torpedo Launched Land-Attack missiles and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated c
On 2 July 2014, German Auxiliary Replenishment Tanker FGS Rhön completed her time deployed as part of EU Naval Force Somalia Operation Atalanta. The ship has significantly contributed to the success of the EU’s Counter Piracy Operation off the coast of Somalia for the last three months. FGS Rhön h